How loneliness linked to anxiety and depression: a network analysis based on Chinese university students.

BACKGROUND: There is conclusive evidence of a multifaceted and bidirectional relationship between loneliness and depression and anxiety. Nonetheless, more extensive research is needed to examine their relationships at a more granular level. This study employed a network analysis approach to identify the pathological mechanisms underpinning those relationships and to identify important bridge nodes as potential targets for intervention. METHODS: 941 University students were included in this study. The ULS-6 (the short-form UCLA Loneliness Scale) was used to assess loneliness, the PHQ-9 (Patient Health questionnaire-9) and GAD-7 (Generalized anxiety disorder 7-item) scales were used to assess the symptoms of depression and anxiety. We constructed two network structures of loneliness-anxiety and loneliness-depression and computed bridge expected influence for each symptom. In addition, we showed a flow network of "Suicide" containing symptoms of depression and loneliness. RESULTS: All edges were positive in both networks constructed and the strongest edges were present within disorder communities. The overall connection between loneliness and depression was stronger compared to anxiety. The results demonstrated that the loneliness item "People are around me but not with me" was identified as bridge symptom in both networks. Furthermore, "Suicide" was directly connected to five symptoms of depression and four items of loneliness, with the strongest connections being between it and "Feeling of worthlessness" and "Psychomotor agitation/retardation". CONCLUSIONS: Our findings provide a more nuanced explanation of the link between loneliness and depression and anxiety. The results identified the bridge symptom "People are around me but not with me", which had the strongest effect on enhancing symptoms of depression and anxiety. Clinical improvements based on the findings of this study and the impact of the intervention are discussed.

miR-203 suppresses tumor growth and angiogenesis by targeting VEGFA in cervical cancer.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: MicroRNA (miRNA) plays important roles in the development of different cancers. In this study, we investigated the roles and mechanisms of miR-203 in human cervical cancer. METHODS: miR-203 expression was detected in cervical cancer tumors and cell lines by qRT-PCR. The methylation status in the promoter region of miR-203 was examined by methylation-specific PCR. The functional effect of miR-203 was determined by both in vitro and in vivo assays. RESULTS: miR-203 was frequently down-regulated in cervical cancer tumors and cell lines. This down-regulation of miR-203 was associated with methylation of the miR-203 promoter. Furthermore, miR-203 down-regulated vascular endothelial growth factor alpha (VEGFA) expression by directly targeting its 3'-untranslated region. Functional assays revealed that miR-203 suppressed cervical cancer cell proliferation, tumor growth, and angiogenesis in nude mice, whereas forced expression of VEGFA rescued this inhibitory effect. CONCLUSION: Our collective findings indicate that miR-203 functions as a tumor suppressor by targeting VEGFA, resulting in the inhibition of tumor growth and angiogenesis. Thus, miR-203 may be a potential therapeutic target and prognostic marker in cervical cancer.

Aluminum buffer rods for ultrasonic monitoring at elevated temperatures.

Aluminum (Al) buffer rods, having circular, square, and rectangular cross-section shapes with and without cladding, were experimentally investigated to achieve high performance in ultrasound for industrial process monitoring. Focus was devoted to the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) aspect in pulse-echo mode because high SNR can make many practical ultrasonic monitoring applications feasible. If the size of the rod cross section can be properly selected, spurious echoes induced in the rod having finite dimensions--due to mode conversion, wave reverberation, and diffraction--do not overlap the desired echoes during pulse-echo measurements. Thus, a sufficient SNR may be obtained using nonclad rods for certain applications, which is of low cost. Clad buffer rods, having the above three shapes and consisting of an Al core and a stainless steel cladding, also were manufactured through thermal spray method. These clad Al rods achieved a SNR of more than 40 dB and had better SNR than clad steel rods. It was shown that the rod with a larger cross-section area exhibited a wider ultrasonic beam. The Al rods are handy in real-time, nonintrusive and nondestructive ultrasonic monitoring.